Students in uproar over change in SPM Moral Studies paper

PETALING JAYA: Form Five students sitting for their SPM Moral Studies paper on Wednesday were taken by surprise by drastic changes to the examination format, which they claim was not announced beforehand.

Students who sat for the paper vented their anger at the change.

"The first thing that most of us noticed was, 'where were the nilai murni' (good values)?" said a student from Alor Setar, Kedah.

From their posts, it appeared that the format had been changed from structured questions to a more open-ended form.

Among their grouses were hours spent memorising definitions, which now only contributed two out of 100 marks and essay questions which they had never encountered before.

"When it comes to Moral Studies, the methodology of answering is that we need to be flawless in order to obtain our A+," he added.

G.Tang, a student from Selangor said he and his classmates sitting for the examination were shocked by the changes and looked at each other with blank faces in the examination hall.

He added this year's paper seemed to emphasise higher order thinking skills (HOTS).

Tang claimed even teachers were not briefed of the change.

Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan said he had been informed about the matter.

"I have requested the (education) department to investigate and get back to me," he said.